Dream Or Reality?
by issm
Summary: Conrad is having strange experiences that he cannot explain. He cannot differentiate between his dreams and the reality. Is he going mad? Plus a mysterious ancient artifect is stolen. And Yuri's acting strange. What's happening? Read and find out.


****Title: ****Dream Or Reality?

****Author:**** is_sm.

**Editor: **-None so far-

**Pairing:** ConYuu as well as YuuRad.

****Summary:**** Conrad is having strange experiences that he cannot explain. His mind is totally confused and he cannot differentiate between his dreams and the reality. Is he going mad? Is he ill? What is happening to him? Plus a mysterious ancient artifect is stolen. Does it have something to do with Conrad's troubles? Will our beloved demon king be able to solve this mystery and save Conrad from a, maybe, fatal fate? And what is Dia Shimaron up to? Find out all the answers in 'Dream Or Reality?'.

**Rating: **T (just to be on the safe side). Rating might go up in future.

**Warning: **This story does contain Yaoi (male/male) and possible bad language. So, Beware. Also, as mentioned above, this is a ConradxYuri story. Please do not comment saying that you hate this paring. If you hate this paring then please don't read. Thank You.

**Disclaimer I:** I don't own anything other than the storyline/plot and anything/anyone else invented by me that exists in this story but not in the original story of Kyou Kara Maou. Everything/everyone else is owned by Tomo Takabayashi. Though I, so much, want to own Conrad. Alas! My bad luck.

**Disclaimer II: **Facts and past storyline is taken directly from Kyou Kara Maou novels, anime and manga. Please don't sue me for that. If I miss something then please forgive me and overlook that. This is a fan fiction after all, that should explain everything regarding what I own and what not.

**Disclaimer III:** Everything in this story is fiction. Please don't get any ideas from this story to try at home. I'll not be responsible for any harm should it come to you in that case. Yuri and Conrad and everybody else are of the same age as in anime in this story. In spite of how I portray them and what happens to them in this story, I do not encourage anything illegal, including, under-age relationships/sex or violence. Please don't try that at home. Once again, this is just a fiction...fanfiction.

**Author's Note: [1.]** Hi guys! As you must have noted, I have written the pairing in two styles above. This is just to clarify that I've assumed, both, Conrad and Yuri to be equal as partners, should it come to that (and I am sure it will...*wink*), and be treated as such. Usually, from what I've read so far, I found that it is assumed that the person whose name's written first, for example Conrad in ConYuu, acts as the husband or seme in their relationship. However, in my stories (this or any other in future), I'll treat them both as equals i.e., nobody's seme and nobody's uke; or rather both are seme and both are uke. I hope none of you readers will have any problem with that. I just figured that both the characters, being male, might be seme in nature and thus wouldn't want to be assigned a particular title. And I just wanted to explore that particular side since no story I found so far has shed any light on this aspect.

**[2.] **This is the very first story that I am writing and publishing. Needless to say, there may be a lot of errors in it. Kindly point them out to me if you find any, so that I could rectify them. Now, without much delay, I present my first ever story - Dream Or Reality? Kindly read and review. Enjoy!

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><p><strong>DREAM OR REALITY?<strong>

**PROLOGUE**

It was nearing to dusk. The sky was painted reddish-orange in the direction of the quickly setting sun and a faint silver crescent was visible in a bluish-grey backdrop in the opposite direction, portraying a perfect harmonious blend of the opposites in nature. As a result, the tree-tops in the thick forest below were also tinted in reddish hue as if someone poured orange paint all over the jungle to bleach its greenery and cause it to blend it with the dazzling show of light playing in the sky above. The scene appeared to be out of one of the Picasso's paintings, bright and cheerful.

This appearance, however, was only a fake illusion. Inside the jungle, it was nothing similar. The aura of the forest was horribly grim and chilly. A strange silvery-green mist spread everywhere, creeping silently along the forest-floor and licking the foot of the thick trees, as if waiting for its prey to arrive, perhaps even inviting, and be swallowed whole. The light hardly reached the floor of the dense forest causing a spooky element to be added to the already gloomy atmosphere. No animal stirred, making the vast natural habitat to appear to be unnaturally abandoned by all living. Silence prevailed everywhere except for the occasional rumbling of the thunder at some distance. It was going to rain heavily for sure, if the uncomfortable humidity shrouding the entire forest was anything to go by. The nature seemed to be signaling a bad omen.

The ancient temple ruins sitting in the middle of the jungle would have appeared fascinating to a passer-by, if not for the creeping mist and deafening silence drowning the entire wrecked rock structure making it look like a haunted house. Anyone brave enough to take a leisurely stroll in the forest at this hour would most definitely lose all of his bravery just by catching a slight glimpse of the aged edifice, and taking the subtle hint would instantly retreat. Anyone in their right senses…but as it turns out exceptions is often found in every breed.

A small group of shrouded figures moved swiftly but carefully (trying not to rise any suspicion) towards the ancient temple in spite of being blinded by the thick mist wall and unheeding of the several ancient warnings etched everywhere across the old slabs of deteriorated marbles. Even the vast number of decaying bones and bodies scattered throughout the place were insufficient for stopping them. Walking with a brisk pace, the group, quickly, crossed the huge open courtyard of the temple, reaching the front gates before pushing back the hoods of their cloaks and revealing their square tan faces.

'Be very careful from now on', one of them, an elderly, spoke for the first time. He seemed to be the leader of the group with a once handsome face now marred by the impact of time. With a hunched back and a thick wooden staff to support his weight, he took a few steps towards the group before continuing instructing.

'Until now we've been very lucky that the guardians of the temple have not spotted us. We need to keep a low profile so that they continue to remain ignorant of our presence. Make sure to make no noise, lest it wake them up from their long slumber.' He stared pointedly at each member of the group to emphasize his point.

Most of the men looked uninterested, taking all of this as a big joke. This is what he despised the most about them all. They never took his words seriously, always looking down upon him as a witless old fool. He wondered if it was a good idea to have accepted Belar's command so easily and let these soldiers come with him. He and his men were more than apt for taking care of the job. Not to mention much more disciplined and qualified than these bunch of garbage who couldn't even realize the graveness of the situation even after losing two of their men in the 'forest of maze'. The maze was built to protect this very temple or rather the priceless artifact hidden somewhere inside it, that they're here to steal. 'Borrow' as that fool for a king used to cheer himself up with. The old man snickered mockingly. He was sure the temple guardians will, definitely, think otherwise.

'You'd never want to meet them. Trust me. And if you don't want to face a very painful and untimely death, you'll do exactly as I say', he said ordered seriously to each of them.

'If you don't believe me, just have a look around. All those bones and bodies lying all around are not just some decorations or tiny leftovers of the animals' meal. They used to be moving, living beings just like you and me and, probably, came here for the exact same reason as us', he spat venomously. 'This is dark magic that we're dealing with. If you're not serious, just leaving now would be best rather than continuing onwards and having all of us killed later on. Do you understand?' And with that he moved on.

'What the hell', spat one of the soldiers.

'Who's he to boss over us like that', said another.

'I wish whatever he's so afraid of actually finds him and kill him slowly the moment he enter that wretched place', a third one chimed in.

'Or else I'm going to take care of him for sure. Soon…' a fourth replied menacingly, none of them even bothering to hide their comments from him.

The old man continued on towards the door, not showing any reaction. He'd heard everything. With a wistful sigh of a man who had seen a bit too much in his long life, he fell into his own musings.

'_How everything did came to this.' _He knew somehow that there was going to be no happy ending to this little adventure. Either by the hands of the guardians, or by that self-centered loathsome human king, he knew that there was no turning back. There was no way that he would live through the end of all this. That was the only reason that he hadn't brought his own men along. They were young, had families and whole life ahead of them. And they had been loyal to him. He knew if he'd asked them, they would've come with him even to this doomed journey._ 'Yes, that's right. They deserved to live',_ he that those soldiers' talks had proved his hunch right, he was glad that he'd ordered them all away. All he, now, hoped was that Robinson would find some way to protect the rest of the clan from that filthy blood-thirsty king.

He reached the doors to the main chambers. Unlike the rest of the temple, this particular part was pretty much preserved.

'Ah! Just look old man. It looks like your almighty guardians weren't able to do much damage here', one of the soldiers chimed, seeming pretty happy with his latest observation.

'That's just because it's heavily guarded with ancient magic', the old man replied calmly. 'Idiot.'

'Pretty lousy of them, don't you think. A ruin just doesn't look beautiful without destruction.' And he guffawed at his private joke, loud enough to be heard within a miles radius in the dead of the night.

'I said shut up', the old guide hissed. The other soldier was still on a laughing spree as if challenging the aforementioned guardians.

Meanwhile another soldier tried to placate the old man. 'Don't worry too much. Nothing's gonna happen. We're the best soldiers of the Dia Shimaron. Trust us; we've travelled through every jungle throughout the world and we can confidently say that things like your guardians exist only in some tribal folktales. Not in the modern world today.' However, as if to counter those very words, a menacing angry howl echoed throughout the surrounding forest which shook the very core of each man. Each head quickly turned in the direction of the sound.

'What was that?' One of the soldiers screamed, panicking.

'Quick, be very silent and come with me', the old guide whispered. But instead of following his advice, the same soldier who was laughing deliberately a mere few moments ago started challenging the temple guardians at the top of his lungs; hurling insults at those mysterious sounds, directing the abuses at the surrounding jungle in general. He was out of control, either very terrified or very foolish. Considering the fact that those howling sounds had been following them ever since they entered this forest, it seemed he was both.

'Shut the hell up', the old man trembled with fury and a faint blue orb shot out of the head of his staff and quickly hit the soldier's chest squarely causing him to stagger back a few paces and fall evenly onto his butts. He got up swiftly, anger flaring through his entire being. He opened his mouth to shout but no words came out. He launched forward to hit the cripple but this fist stopped inches from the man's face, changed its target and began to repeatedly hit his own face instead. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't make it stop. He had no control. The others simply stood there watching with fascination and horror alike at their withering comrade. They seemed to have been frozen at their spot.

'That should shut you up efficiently', the old man cried. 'If anyone else needs the taste of this treatment before heading in, say', he looked sharply into all the present set of eyes. No one uttered a word.

Unknown to all of them, inside the temple the eyes of several huge statues of horrible looking creatures came to life, glowing a bright blood red. And their fingers very imperceptibly, but surely, moved.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

The rest of the steps to the huge stone doors went uneventful. The howling had died down.

Upon reaching the top of the large staircase, the old man lightly caressed the massive stone entrance, trying to read the ancient inscriptions embedded in it.

After a lengthy inspection, he groaned. The only two means of opening the door was either through magic or through an ancient physical mechanism hidden underground, all the way back down the (as it seemed hundred or so) stairs, at the back of the main chambers in a sealed room which was secured by powerful tricky traps.

'_Hell! This is going to take time. So much for trying to get out of here as quickly as I can.'_

Marking a certain symbol that he couldn't place right within the twisted form of hieroglyphics etched into the stone gates, as an indicator to remind him to examine it properly once he get back, he left to find the aforementioned sealed chamber housing the gate's mechanisms.

After commanding the two soldiers nearest to him to come along with him, he addressed the others. 'I'll come back soon. Stay here and don't touch anything. There're traps hidden all over the place', he said sternly.

'Where're you going?' One of the men asked anxiously.

'To find the mechanism that opens this door. It's somewhere down there. I'll call for you once I find it.'

'I thought the door could be opened only by some funky magic thingy.'

'Yes. I can be opened by magic.' The poor old guide was starting to get really irritated now. Honestly, how could anyone be so dense and clueless, especially those soldiers who were specifically trained in the art of esoteric magic and have been taught about the tortuousness of magic. _'How could Belal even think of conquering the world while having such a bunch of useless morons to pass for soldiers…the best soldiers in Dia Shimaron. God help him in his ambition.'_ He smirked mockingly at the irony of it all. 'However, using magic will also raise the sleeping guardians from their long slumber. They're sensitive to any form of magic. Also, there're traps laid down all over the place. So, don't touch anything.' And with that the old man turned to his heels and walked away, followed by two other soldiers.

'Didn't he use magic just a little while ago', one of the soldiers wondered out loud.

'What did you say?' his partner asked.

'N-Nothing. Let's just wait for him', he replied skeptically. However, for some reason, he couldn't shake this forbidding feeling that something might go seriously wrong after all.

The sun had completely set and the thunder was, now, roaring louder than ever. The storm had finally reached them several minutes ago. It had started to drizzle, intensifying the mist and making it almost impossible to see farther than a few meters. Impossibly thick and dark clouds were swirling above the antique stone structure like a spiral, creating a whirlpool of sorts, emitting streaks of lightening right from its eye center and thus, making the entire scene look utmost ominous. Within a few more minutes it started to pour. Not just mild drizzle of water droplets but thick sheets of icy cold water as if the cloud, unable to bear the heavy weight of water stored in it anymore, has finally burst; or like someone had taken to pour gallons of water from the sky in a single shot. Any little sight that was available in spite of the dark and the thick mist was cut down by this heavy rain. Panic gripped the soldiers' hearts, each one trying to satisfy themselves that this was just the nature's phenomenon like any other, but somehow none getting satisfied at all.

****x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x****

'_Don't use magic at any cost.' _The old man thought while approaching his destination. It was then that he first felt the cold drops of water falling from the sky onto his ragged face. Soon enough, he was drenched to his shins with the icy water, but that didn't deter him from his goal. He had seen and faced many big storms in his life after all. '_One of which was that disgraceful Belar.' h_e thought hatefully. Funny how agile he was in spite of his drowning years, but that fact alone didn't kept his temper tendencies under check which used to, often, go out of proportions under some circumstances. Exactly like this one.

'_Don't use any magic.'_

Yes, that's what was taught to him about the places like this in his early years as a magic scholar. It was one of those several forbidden rules that were strictly necessary to be followed in order to return alive out of certain magically enchanted places. Places such as this. These are the rules that are 'a must' for every secret keeper to obey._ 'And yet, I broke one of such fundamental rules just moments ago. Although it was just a minor magic, yet how could I be such a fool? No, but there was no other way. Those idiots just won't listen. Aaaarghhh…'_ he groaned in frustration.

Oh, how much he wished for that one mistake to go unnoticed. But he knew better. Hadn't he just now preached all those knuckle-heads back there about the intensity of magic prevailing here?_ 'Black magic, no less.' _He was utterly sure that he wouldn't be forgiven for that gross misconduct. People pay gravely when they choose to ignore warnings. He was no exception.

'_Aaaarghhh!' _How much he wished to be far away from this place._ 'Why do that wretched Belar sought after such a terrible thing? Humph…isn't that easy', _he thought. _'To rule the world or rather make the entire world his slave, of course. But why-oh-why, why me? Why choose me when there were so many other magicians in this world who knew of this place. Hadn't I been so loyal to him throughout my life? What did I do to make him wish to get rid of me in such a horrific manner?'_

How much he cursed his fate for having landed him in this situation. Only if he hadn't trusted Belar to have mercy on him, hadn't trusted him to be a man of his words, he'd have been better. But he was blinded, blinded by the pleasure of the power; just like hadn't known what he was playing with. Trusting someone as wretched as Belar, even after witnessing his treachery a thousand times in person, has finally led him to his demise. What made him believe that Belal wouldn't go against him one day or another? He still couldn't figure that out. And he wished he had while he still had time.

'_Why did I trust him? Why did I tell him about the secret hideout of the Sonorous Clan? Why did I spoke of our clan's secrets? Why did I lead all of my men into the death-trap, when all that I wanted for them was safety and prosperity? How did this happen? Why do my family have to pay for my sins? What kind of man am I', _he cursed and repented simultaneously, getting angrier every second._ 'Heck, why even get married?' _That was another overrule. A secret-keeper is not supposed to be married, lest that marriage be taken advantage of by someone evil. Just like now as he's being to obey Belar's orders due to the sword dangling over his wife and children's necks.

He sighed longingly. '_My record isn't very clean when it comes to follow rules. I guess that's a punishment I've to bear. But this time, I would set everything right. I would find that artifact, return it to Belar and set my family free even if I get sacrificed in the process.'_

Looking straight ahead, he finally found what he was looking for, partially hidden behind a thick veil of vine, standing proudly and staring right back at him. With a newfound determination, he hurried towards it. 'At least I got to live my life to the fullest', he spoke aloud.

He reached the stone wall and started studying the hieroglyphics etched across it once more. After a moment's inspection, he pushed a brick-shaped switch, hidden somewhere to the left of the wall behind the overgrown foliage, and suddenly the door sprang to life, jumping aside and leaving a small entrance leading into the small cave, sufficient for only one man at a time to pass through, wide open.

Without wasting another moment, he called out, 'We found it, go and call the oth…' However, he couldn't finish his sentence because as he turned towards the two soldiers behind them, he found none. Somehow somewhere along the way both had vanished. He could help but think that something was terribly wrong. He looked towards the cave leading underground once more, contemplating. _'I have to do it…for my family…for my people.'_

Determined once again, he stepped forwards. He was thoroughly drenched with rain and shivering uncontrollably by now, but without giving it much of a thought, he entered the small cave and got lost in the blinding darkness.

****x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x****

Back at the main chambers, the soldiers were getting restless.

'What's taking him so long?' one of the soldiers claimed. They're all sitting in the shelter of the huge stone slab jutting outwards from the top of the huge gates on one side and supported by massive rock pillars on the other. Hence, the rain didn't reach them, leaving them relatively dry.

'Huh! Must have been crawling around one of the **[1]**Pansy bushes trying to bring his useless hunched back to use in collecting some ancient rotten berries off somewhere.' other replied mockingly. 'Who cares?'

'Stop that, Chasier. He's the only one who knows anything about this place at all. He's our only hope so stop irritating him to an extent that he decides to leave us here alone. Mind you, I don't want to face those guardians or whatever they're without him there to help us.'

'No need to be so cranky, Lancer', the other named Chasier spat. 'Who needs him anyway? Those were all baseless stories that he was conjuring up. I bet I can find that artifact for King Belal all by myself and get safely out of this wretched place much before than we can do with him around. Guess what? I think we should do that. Whatch yall say?' He asked to the rest of his fellows, noticing that they all were listening in to their conversation.

'Yeah, but what about that curse and guardians or whatever?' one of them asked.

'Gross! I told ya, didn't I?' Chasier responded. 'There aren't any magical creatures here. There's only an aged priceless artifact buried somewhere within these ruins. At the most we'd find some old traps protecting it but I am sure Seabieth here, with his special training in recognizing and disabling hidden traps will be able to lead us through if that's the case.'

Seabieth, the man in question, nodded his head in affirmative.

'Yes, but…' Lancer was uncertain. He, however, was interrupted by Chasier before he could finish his query.

'Look, Lancer', Chasier said. 'Think of it in this way. That old cripple is just slowing us down and filling our minds with fear with all the useless magic and curse crap talk of his.'

'But that wasn't crap. Our two men died earlier in that strange forest earlier due to that mist.' Lancer argued.

'They were just being foolish and ate some poison berries which caused their death, not some mystical magical mist. Ok?' Chasier countered. 'I even found those berries lying near them as evidence.'

'I think he's right', Seabieth spoke. 'We're giving this ancient curse stuff a bit too much credit. And that old bastard's getting on my nerves now. Besides, we've been wandering through this forest for days and no magical creature have appeared as he, so vehemently, had claimed.'

'Exactly', Chasier chimed in. 'Besides, think of how huge a reward we'll get if we bring the artifact to King Belal days before the deadline? He'll fill our houses with gold. Yes! And who knows, maybe there might be treasure hidden in this ruins. My experience says that such places always have some gold buried with it, sometimes lots of it.'

'You think so?' someone asked.

'I'm positive', he replied. 'If not entire rooms full of it, this place must have at least enough gold for all of us to make us rich. And we can have it all to ourselves, and get out of here much faster without that cripple bossing us around and slowing us down. What do you say? Let's just leave him and proceed. We'll say to the King that he ran away and we will get all the fame for this mission, just as we deserve it.'

'Yes. And we won't have to share the gold with him and it'll be a perfect lesson for him', another agreed. 'And anyways, I don't think he's returning. He'd have run away out of terror by now. You saw his face when he heard those wolves howling when we reached here?'

Chasier laughed at that but suddenly grew serious. 'I promise that if you do as I say, we'll all be safely out of here by tomorrow morning with that ancient artifact and lots of wealth. So, who's with me?'

Chasier's words struck pleasant to everyone else present. They all looked at one another before one by one agreeing to his proposal. Majority was with Chasier, and although Lancer was unsure of this plan, he'd no other choice but to agree along with the rest.

'Alright then', Chasier announced. 'Now that everything's settled, let us use our esoteric skills to blow up these gates open and make our way ahead. We've waited long enough for the old cripple.'

At this boost, all of the soldiers got up to work and achieve their latest goal. Gathering all of their energies, they all summoned their esoteric skills and attacked the huge gates together.

****x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x****

Meanwhile, the old man had entered the cave. The moment he set his foot inside the dark cavern, several torches lined throughout the length of the cave as far as the eyes could see, lit up basking the entire place in a faint yellowish glow. _'Magical torches…hmmm',_ he thought grimly. _'I got to be careful.'_

He continued forward admiring the beautiful rows of handmade pictures that seemed to be imprinted throughout the entire temple. Even outside the cave such pictures were visible everywhere you see. They would have been much more pleasing to the eyes had they not been the ancient warnings for the impending disaster. What an irony of life it is that the death's lair always happens to be so appealing.

Walking a few steps forwards he reached a platform from where a spiral stone staircase was leading straight down into the ground. As he took one more step, another pair of torches burst to life illuminating the way ahead. With each step one touch would lit up, allowing a partial vision of the scene ahead. It was a seemingly harmless and yet highly defensive strategy.

The pitch darkness disabled the total vision, causing the intruder to use some form of light to illuminate the way. But that would make it a bit too easy. The torches or any form of magic used to achieve this would initially cause discomfort but all too soon the eyes would get accustomed to it, becoming capable to see further and thus, making it far too easy for the intruder to dodge any hidden traps. But that would be too troublesome and the intruder will more likely be able to succeed in his profane motives and come out almost unscathed.

The most practical solution to exterminate the threat would be to provide exactly what he want and trick him into laying his own safe-guard down, to make him abandon the safety of his own trusted tools in favor of that of those provided, thereby leading him directly to his impending doom. And that's exactly where the magical torches come in handy. They are just a fool's gold, for they are anything but helpful. The sudden burst of flames in the torches with every step taken, combined with the already prevailing pitch blackness, causes momentary blindness to be repeated over and over again, not giving enough time to the eyes to adjust to the environment and thus making one almost visually handicapped. Naturally it would be a lost battle, considering the sight is undoubtedly an upper-hand in such situations. One wrong step and the rest of the work would be done by the hidden ambushes once and for all.

But the old stultified man was not a fool. He wouldn't fall for such lousy tricks. After all, he'd studied and practiced magic for almost four hundred and twenty four years now. He wouldn't go down that easily. Yet, he was just a little bit disconcerted. It was just a hunch he was worried about. 'Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come out here all alone, after all.'

The last step faced a short corridor leading straight into a small dimly lit room. Once again the entire corridor was imprinted with countless pictographs. The old man walked further, every bit as alert as a highly professional spy on a very dangerous mission of great importance. He couldn't go more than a few steps when his self-conscious warned him not to go any further. A strange sensation swept over him and he remained frozen at the spot, mulling over the thought whether he should proceed or not. After a small mental battle, he decided against the act. His hunches seemed to be proving themselves correct every time now-a-days so he better pay them a bit more thought. He turned back and, quickly, left the place.

He was just rushing back up the ancient staircase when suddenly his foot pressed a small piece of brick that made the staircase, which immediately sunk into the ground and - nothing happened. With each of his senses at the edge, the old man froze for a few moments waiting for something to happen, before taking a sigh of relief and proceeding with his retreat.

However, as he reached the top of the stair case, he heard the sound of something rolling…something HUGE AND HEAVY rolling. His instincts ticked him to leave. But as he turned back to run, the floor shook violently and some of the old dilapidated stone steps gave way. The staircase changed and turned into a slide and he slid down it into an unknown underground chamber. All this happened so quickly that he didn't get any time to do anything. All he was able to do was pray for his life before he faces his death which, he was sure, waited for him down there. His beloved wife's beautiful face was the last thing that flashed in his mind before the threatening darkness swallowed him whole. _'I love you Christopher. Please be safe for us.' _She said.

****x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x****

Outside, the nature seemed to be unleashing its entirely unrestrained fury. Almost the entire area was flooded with water and it just seemed to be getting worse with every passing minute. Alongside, the thunder's contribution to the nature's conspiracy to 'scare the wit out of every living being' was rather appreciable with its bone shattering roars, which seemed to be getting even louder if at all possible.

Nevertheless, the enthusiasm amongst the soldiers remained unfazed and the nature could do nothing to dampen it. They were all very tired, shivering from cold and had been continuously at work for very long now. But still no one stopped or slowed down. It was as if something had possessed them. They wanted to break into the temple at all costs. They wanted to prove to that old rascal how strong they were. And that nobody can command them. They were the masters of their own will and certainly didn't need someone so pathetic like him to do such a small job as to retrieve an antique. They wanted to prove it to King Belal, who'd always underestimated them, that they were the best. They wanted to show the world that they're the best…that they'd completed their task successfully and returned alive from one of the most dreaded parts of the world. Everyone was determined and hungry for fame, for recognition, for immense wealth.

Collectively, they fired their esoteric magic once last time at the gates when, at last, a small crack appeared in it. Soon it got bigger and bigger and quickly covered the entire area of the massive gates. Everyone rejoiced and cheered loudly at their success. It had taken them several attempts and an entire tedious hour, but eventually they had won. The huge worn-out stone gates finally gave out, shattering and fell off their hinges, creating much noise in the process.

'See, I told you it was easy.' Chasier claimed, celebrating. His claims, however, was responded with such blood curdling roar echoing off the entire forest, that made all of them literally urinate in their pants.

The heavy rain unexpectedly stopped in an instant as if someone had switched it off, though the dark ominous clouds still lingered in the sky above. The chilly pale green mist that had earlier been contained only in the forest and had stayed out of the temple boundaries, rapidly spilled out and occupied the temple premises entirely, covering everything in a blanket of mist so thick that it became impossible to see anything more than even a feet away. All sounds, suddenly, disappeared and everything came to an absolute stand-still, not even a leaf moved. The silence that ensued was deafening, replicating the scene out of a horror movie where the evil apparition is just about to reveal itself to the protagonist.

As the Dia Shimaron soldiers, utterly terrified as they were, glanced around, the ground shook violently, sending them all crashing down to the floor. The wind suddenly picked up speed, rivaling to that of a violent tornado in intensity and roared loudly, taking the sound pitch to an entirely new level, instilling even more dread than already present in the hearts of everything living.

Slowly all of the pictorial inscriptions and strange designs inscribed throughout the temple walls and floor started to glow a brilliant bright red, covering everything in a red hue. Strange dreadful shadows appeared out of nowhere and slowly started taking a solid appearance, all the while swiftly approaching them, their eyes shining bright red, with a promise of a painful death. It was quite clear as daylight by now that the old man had been right all along. His warnings were not honored and now everyone will have to pay the price. There was no denying that the disruption by the soldiers had finally exceeded the safe limits and the dreaded temple guardians were, finally, awake from their long slumber.

Soon the air was filled with furious howls echoing from all directions, and the silence of the night dissolved into painful horrendous shrieks.

The ancient temple shone dazzlingly bright throughout this, basking several miles of the forest all around it with an eerie red light, before the entire jungle was plunged, once again, into the silent darkness.

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><p><strong>To Be Continued…<strong>

**1 -** Name of a plant I invented. It's something like a substitute of the berry bushes grown in the other world.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> Hi again guys! I hope you like this chapter. It was just the Prologue, it didn't have the main characters. But I promise that in the next chapter we shall meet out protagonists. I'll try to update as fast as possible.

Please review. I only request you that if you didn't like anything please tell me why. However, this is not a compulsion. Reviews, in any form, are welcome as long as you do give me a feedback.

Based on your feedback, I will decide whether I'll continue it or not. Till then 'Take Care. Good Bye!'


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